Modern ballistic armor involves a classic balancing of weight versus penetration resistance. Two classes of materials predominate. Metal armor can be fabricated to almost any thickness and alloyed for increased hardness. It is heavy but tends to deform when impacted, allowing it to survive multiple impacts. Ceramic armor is lighter than metal, harder but more fragile. Even when not penetrated it may shatter and be comprised for further use. Personal armor tends toward light ceramics and there is a needed to strengthen the ceramic tiles to withstand multiple impacts.
Multiple layered armor using epoxy adhesives is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,705,764 to Schade et al. Infiltration of porous ceramics is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,451,385 to Hilden et al. An armor, including multiple layers of fibers in an elastomeric matrix bonded to a hard metal or ceramic plate, in a perimeter wrapped tile mounted on a backing plate, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,601,497 to Ghiorse et al.